Indonesia Tsunami Death Toll Tops 400

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Indonesia battled Friday to deliver aid to remote islands where a
tsunami has killed over 400 people, as bodies lay strewn on
beaches and buried in debris days after the wave hit.

Disaster response officials believe the final death toll from the
huge wave that pummeled the Mentawai island chain off the west
coast of Sumatra Monday could exceed 600, with many victims
sucked out to sea as the tsunami receded.

Almost 13,000 people are living in makeshift camps on the islands
after their homes were wiped out in the killer wave, which was
triggered by a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake.

Survivors in a village reached by an AFP photographer said as
many as 30 of the community's 100 children had been killed. One
man complained they still had not received any assistance from
the government.

Elsewhere in the disaster-prone archipelago, the nation's most
active volcano, Mount Merapi in central Java, was spewing lava
and searing gas, after an eruption on Tuesday killed 34 people.

Volcanologist Heru Suparwoko said the clouds were "definitely
dangerous" for people who had refused to obey orders to evacuate
the danger zone.

Some 50,000 people have fled to temporary shelters but many are
returning to their fields on the volcano during the day, despite
the threat of another deadly eruption.

On the Mentawais, a legendary destination for foreign surfers but
an otherwise poor and neglected part of Indonesia, officials said
helicopters had started dropping aid on Friday.

"We've started sending relief supplies, which are still limited
but enough for the people to survive," national search and rescue
spokesman Gagah Prakoso said.

The latest official death toll from the tsunami stood at 408,
with 303 still listed as missing. Officials said as many as 200
of the missing were not expected to be found alive.

Bad weather has hampered efforts to ferry aid such as tents,
medicine, food and water to the islands by boat from the nearest
port of Padang, which is more than half a day away even in the
best conditions.

Some aid workers said they had been stuck in Padang for days,
waiting for a ride to the Mentawais.

Shortages of aviation fuel as well as a lack of roads and phone
communications on the affected islands were also limiting aid
distribution, officials said.

Dave Jenkins of independent health agency SurfAid International,
which is based in the Mentawais, said: "Bad weather is forecast
and a severely challenging situation has been made a lot worse."

"We need to keep people alive, warm and fed, and fight disease
outbreaks. After that we can move into the reconstruction phase,"
he said. "It's challenging and people need to coordinate much
better."

Australia announced assistance of the equivalent of $1 million
while the European Commission released 1.5 million euros ($2
million) in aid.

"Indonesia is currently addressing a multitude of emergencies,
whose cumulative impact is putting local capacity under severe
strain," European aid chief Kristalina Georgieva said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations stood
ready to assist. The United States and several Asian countries
have also offered help.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited the area Thursday and
told survivors the government was doing everything it could.

But he also advised people to move from coastal areas prone to
tsunamis, saying this was the "only long-term solution".

Officials have batted away questions about why an expensive
warning system -- established after the 2004 Asian tsunami killed
almost 170,000 people on Sumatra and nearby islands -- failed to
alert people on the Mentawais.

Survivors said the only warning they received was the "roar" of
the wave as it sped towards them shortly before 10 pm, even
though an official tsunami alert had been issued in Jakarta.

An official responsible for the warnings blamed local authorities
on the Mentawais for failing to pass on the alert, telling
reporters: "We don't feel there was any mistake."